A Soccer Tournament Breaks Through the Boycott of Qatar

This was not the case last December with the Gulf Cup, a biennial tournament featuring eight national teams from the region that was scheduled to be played in Qatar. Ten days before the opening match, with Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Bahrain refusing to participate, Qatar agreed to allow the tournament be switched to Kuwait. (The U.A.E. soccer association said that, in that case, its reasons for boycotting were not political.)

The tournament went off without major incidents: Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. were placed in a different group from Qatar’s, and their national teams never met on the field. But with no resolution to the diplomatic crisis, concern quickly shifted to this year’s Champions League, a tournament featuring 32 of Asia’s top clubs from various countries, set to begin its group stage in February.

The problem was that the tournament is split into eight groups of four teams, and with four clubs from Qatar, four from the Emirates and two from Saudi Arabia in the field, a collision of at least two of them seemed inevitable. (Iran, which has sided with Qatar in the political dispute, also has teams in the tournament and has its own diplomatic impasse with Saudi Arabia.) In the end, half of the eight groups contain at least one team from Qatar and one from Saudi Arabia or the U.A.E. (or both).

In January, the A.F.C. sent a delegation to the region to investigate the situation. But on Saturday it announced the games would be played at home sites after all, according to the event’s regulations.

“The regulations are clear, and matches must be played in home-and-away format, especially in club competitions,” said Dato’ Windsor John, the A.F.C.’s general secretary. “Now we need to think from an operational point of view. We need to sit down with them and see what is needed. In terms of venues, kickoff times and all the rest, there is a lot to do.”

Photo

A female supporter of the Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal. Saudi Arabia has closed its border with Qatar but will allow soccer clubs to cross it to compete in the A.F.C. Champions League.Credit
Ali Al-Arifi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Both the Saudi and U.A.E. federations expressed surprise at the decision but quickly indicated their participating clubs would not withdraw. The first tests arrive Feb. 12, when the group stage begins.

“In view of U.A.E. F.A. keenness to cooperate with A.F.C., it announces the participation of its affiliated clubs in A.C.L. 2018,” the U.A.E. federation said a statement.

Dorsey said that he saw compliance as a practical recognition by Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. of the popularity of soccer in their countries, and an acknowledgment of the risks of denying fans access to prestigious games.

“I don’t think it shows that there is a change in attitude so much as the need for domestic maneuvering,” he said.

That does not mean there will be no trouble. During the Gulf Cup in December, a Saudi delegation walked out of a news conference to protest the presence of Qatari journalists. In September, Saudi authorities ejected a reporter from the Qatari-owned network beIN Sports from a crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, despite the network’s status as the broadcast rights-holder for the event.

The A.F.C. has yet to comment on the prospect of neutral venues when Iranian and Saudi clubs meet. Those two countries cut diplomatic ties in January 2016, and a year later that dispute led to a Champions League semifinal between Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Persepolis being held in U.A.E. and Oman. Instead of games attracting as many as 150,000 fans combined in Riyadh and Tehran, only 14,000 people actually attended the two neutral-site matches.

“Taking the matches to a third country is a temporary solution, or should be,” said Steve Kim, a former head of club competitions at the A.F.C. “The games need to be played home and away. But in Asia, that can be difficult.”

All this sporting drama and tension is playing out against the backdrop of the 2022 World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar. The tournament is central to the country’s efforts to become an influential player on the global stage, and disrupting it — or forcing its cancellation — could be seen as a coup for its rivals.

In October, a leading U.A.E. security official wrote on Twitter that the blockade would end if Qatar gave up hosting rights to the tournament. “If the World Cup goes out of Qatar, the crisis in Qatar will end because the crisis was made to break it,” said the official, the Dubai security chief Dhahi Khalfan.

The recent decision by the Champions League, then, is encouraging, according to Dorsey. “If the Gulf crisis is to last into 2022, then this breach of the blockade means that an even more significant breach would occur at the World Cup,” he said.

For John and the A.F.C., the issue was much simpler.

“We haven’t thought about that,” he said of the World Cup. “We have obligations to fans, media and sponsors, and we are focused on making sure that our fixtures are completed.”